[Doundounba]

Well, the KP is an interesting body, and even though I am fairly likely to wait for the next (true) APS-C flagship, I do have a couple of questions for anyone that might be able to get their hands on a KP and run a couple of tests.

1) About liveview burst shooting. Turn off instant review (it's in Camera Menu #4 on the K-3, set Instant Review -> Display Time -> Off), then set the camera to Continuous High shooting, and put the camera in Liveview mode. Now fire a continuous volley of shots: does the LCD display anything while you are shooting the volley? FYI, on the K-3, the LCD just goes black.

2) About aperture bracketing. Is aperture bracketing supported for A-series lenses (or do you need something newer)? Pop on an A-series lens and try it, I guess...

Thanks!

[Adam]

Aperture bracketing will work with A lenses for sure.

I don't known about how the KP is inplemented, but the live view behavior should be very similar to the K-3. Also, I don't think that having instant review on even slows you down. Just be sure to have distortion corrections and clarify enhancement disabled.

[Doundounba]

Thanks for the response, Adam.

Aperture bracketing will work with A lenses for sure.

Certainly seems like it should be the case, but is this something you know for a fact, or just an educated guess?

I don't known about how the KP is inplemented, but the live view behavior should be very similar to the K-3. Also, I don't think that having instant review on even slows you down. Just be sure to have distortion corrections and clarify enhancement disabled.

For me at least, it's not a question of slowing down, but of framing the next shot as opposed to seeing the last one that was fired. If you leave Instant Review on, your screen displays something that lags significantly (between 0.12s at Continuous High, and 0.33s at Continuous Low) with respect to where your camera is actually pointing as you're firing. Especially at Continuous Medium and Low (but even at Continuous High), I find that this makes certain actions surprisingly difficult and jarring. (If you must know, I'm referring to smooth camera movement for macro focus stacking.)

Also, mirrorless cameras (who are always in "liveview") seem to be getting better (or trying to get better) at minimizing/avoiding precisely this type of blackout when firing continuous bursts. Thus this is an area where other manufacturers are moving. So I'm wondering whether or not Ricoh is moving too. It seems like the liveview implementation on Pentax DLSRs - though pretty good - isn't improving all that fast. For instance, people have been asking for customizable peaking color for a while. But in the KP, it does seem like there are some changes - like maybe different "kinds" of peaking, though it's not quite clear (to me) yet what that means. So I'm wondering if maybe the liveview blackout I observe (and try to work around) on the K-3 has improved in the KP.

p.s.: Some people might say: "Just use the OVF!" Well, there are a couple of reasons to want to use liveview. One of them, for example, is that the OVF gets quite dark when shooting significantly stopped-down reversed lenses. Nevertheless, I'll concede that those who would say "use the ovf" might have a point, and that (if the KP's or the future K-3iii's liveview remains unchanged) it might be better to pick lens setups that make using the OVF easier rather than try to perform macro focus stacking in liveview...

[Adam]

Thanks for the response, Adam.



Certainly seems like it should be the case, but is this something you know for a fact, or just an educated guess?



For me at least, it's not a question of slowing down, but of framing the next shot as opposed to seeing the last one that was fired. If you leave Instant Review on, your screen displays something that lags significantly (between 0.12s at Continuous High, and 0.33s at Continuous Low) with respect to where your camera is actually pointing as you're firing. Especially at Continuous Medium and Low (but even at Continuous High), I find that this makes certain actions surprisingly difficult and jarring. (If you must know, I'm referring to smooth camera movement for macro focus stacking.)

Also, mirrorless cameras (who are always in "liveview") seem to be getting better (or trying to get better) at minimizing/avoiding precisely this type of blackout when firing continuous bursts. Thus this is an area where other manufacturers are moving. So I'm wondering whether or not Ricoh is moving too. It seems like the liveview implementation on Pentax DLSRs - though pretty good - isn't improving all that fast. For instance, people have been asking for customizable peaking color for a while. But in the KP, it does seem like there are some changes - like maybe different "kinds" of peaking, though it's not quite clear (to me) yet what that means. So I'm wondering if maybe the liveview blackout I observe (and try to work around) on the K-3 has improved in the KP.

p.s.: Some people might say: "Just use the OVF!" Well, there's a couple of reasons to want to use liveview. One of them, for example, is that the OVF gets quite dark when shooting significantly stopped-down reversed lenses. Nevertheless, I'll concede that those who would say "use the ovf" might have a point, and that (if the KP's or the future K-3iii's liveview remains unchanged) it might be better to pick lens setups that make using the OVF easier rather than try to perform macro focus stacking in liveview...

We'll have some hands-on info on this next week. As for evolution, I think we'll see more of it if/when Pentax releases a new mirrorless. body. For now, there have been baby steps along the way.

Adam
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[Adam]

Just confirming the info in post 2. Having IR on doesn't slow it down, either.

It seems to me that the KP shoots faster in LV than through the viewfinder. Will work on calculating the framerate based on preliminary tests.

[Doundounba]

Just confirming the info in post 2. Having IR on doesn't slow it down, either.

Thanks for following up!

I just want to make sure I'm understanding what you're saying. This is what I'm getting:

1) Aperture bracketing will work with A lenses.

2) Liveview bursts behave just like the K-3 - if you turn off Instant Review the screen goes dark after the first frame.

Is this correct?

Thanks again!

[Adam]

Yup!

Adam
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